The Yellow Paint, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I first fell in love with Robert Louis Stevenson’s writing when I read his sprawling adventure novel Treasure Island around the age of nine or so (I wouldn’t mind reading it again, to tell you the truth, but alone, to myself, and not here on the BSFP – I don’t really fancy attempting all those pirate dialects in public). But he also wrote essays and a great deal of excellent short fiction, which I may eventually get to on this podcast. So we’ll start with this disturbing little tale from his posthumous collection of Fables, published in 1896. Warning: After perusing a great many online literary forums, I’ve noted that about half the people who have read or commented on this story don’t understand it. I mean, it’s not exactly rocket science, but you may want to give it a second whirl before passing judgement.